Last night we went for an orientation walk through the city of Oaxaca. We went through the local markets and tried a few of the delicacies!! We tried some chocolate (which was so yummy I went and bought some today- it's completely different to the old cadburys at home) and I have officially joined the Grasshopper eating club!! Mmmmmm crunchy!! Although just tasted like lemon and chilli (what they had on them!!).
On our walk we noticed a lot of commotion on in the city square!! When we got closer we realised that there were a lot of tents as well people and stalls everywhere!!
So tent city was the teachers protesting!! Nice to know Australia's not the only country where we have to protest in order to get better wages!!
What timing we have arrived in Oaxaca during Guelaguetza, which is a cultural celebration of all of the indigenous tribes around the Oaxaca region!! It is what I'm guessing is Oaxaca's version of carnival!! There were food stalls, dancing, music, parades, arts and crafts for sale and just a whole heap of fun going on!! So after dinner, 3 of us solo girls went back out to enjoy the festivities!! It was a blast!! We ended up getting back to the hotel soon after 11pm.
Today we went to the ruins at Monte Albán. Now this place was very interesting!! It not only had the temple ruins which we climbed, it also had stone carvings depicting images of people with Down's syndrome, birth defects and even open chest cavities (indicating that even 500 yrs BC they were performing surgery).
They also did some amazing things like binding babies heads and sharpening their teeth to make them look more like jaguars!! Although don't know how much that would have tickled!! What this trip has made me realise I that the native Mexicans were a hell of a lot smarter than what we are!! The technology they developed thousands of years ago is crazy!! 500BC they had already developed toilets with clean water going in and dirty water going out!! There are still countries today that haven't got that far!! Isn't that amazing?!?!?
This afternoon we went to a great little artesian women's co-op shop that supports women here in Oaxaca!! Then off to the market to have some soup for lunch and to buy a few of the local treats!! I had my first experience with a dodgy local most likely looking to lighten my load by trying to take my wallet etc. I was so onto him... The minute he held his hand out to shake my hand I grabbed my bag closer and went straight into a stall!! Just as quickly as he appeared he then spotted someone else... So I turned around to find some other tourist (a guy) with a massive camera round his neck and has his back pack wide open putting stuff in it.... Hahahahaha obviously an easier target than me!!!
Tonight I'm catching an overnight bus which I'm not really looking forward to!! Apparently we are not to leave any locks on our bags, as we pass through quite a few check points, where the army searches the bags!! If you leave your locks on your bags, they come in and wake up the whole bus to find the culprit who left the locks on their bag! You are then paraded off the bus and made to open your bags! Apparently if locks are on your bags they are more likely to check your bag!! So point taken, no locks on my bags!! The check points are interesting here in Mexico!! On my journeys so far I've been through a few check points. You don't know whether to feel safe or unsafe. The guards have massive mounted machine guns around them and even bigger machine guns mounted to cars. I know we feel safer cause they're there, but also unsafe that those guards are needed!! I just have to remember to take anything important with us on the bus and wear a money belt, as light fingers have been known to take things whilst people are sleeping!!